Looking through the upside down: Hyper-postmodernism and trans-mediality in the Duffer Brothers’ Stranger Things

Abstract

This article puts forward the argument that Stranger Things and Stranger Things 2 are not only excellent examples of postmodern TV drama, but they take on what Valerie Wee has termed a ‘hyper-postmodernism’ through their heightened level of intertextual referencing that emerges ‘as text.’ Both series also extensively break down the boundaries between film, television, literature and ‘geek’ culture. This is done both within the text itself, and through the audience’s invited interaction with the text, as the show demonstrates significant awareness of the trans-medial, Easter-egg hunting tendencies of its binge-watching followers.